Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium cultivar Pjhavan.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium, commercially known as a garden-type Chrysanthemum and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Pjhavanxe2x80x99.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Oostnieuwkerke-Staden, Belgium. The objective of the breeding program is to create new garden-type Chrysanthemum cultivars having inflorescences with desirable inflorescence forms, attractive floret colors and good garden performance.
The new Chrysanthemum originated from a cross made in 1997, in Oostnieuwkerke-Staden, Belgium, of the Chrysanthemum cultivar Ballino, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unidentified selection of Chrysanthemum, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross grown in a controlled environment in Oostnieuwkerke-Staden, Belgium.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Oostnieuwkerke-Staden, Belgium since November, 1998, has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Pjhavan has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Pjhavanxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Pjhavanxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Rounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit; dense and full plants.
3. Uniform and freely flowering habit.
4. Decorative-type inflorescences.
5. Golden yellow-colored ray florets.
6. Natural season flowering in mid-September in the Northern Hemisphere.
7. Good garden performance.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum differ from plants of the female parent, the cultivar Ballino, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum are more upright as plants of the cultivar Ballino.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flower about five days later than plants of the cultivar Ballino.
3. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum have larger inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Ballino.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum differ from plants of the male parent selection primarily in ray floret coloration.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum can be compared to plants of the cultivar Borello, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Oostnieuwkerke-Staden, Belgium, plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the cultivar Borello in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum were more upright than plants of the cultivar Borello.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered about three to four weeks earlier than plants of the cultivar Borello.
3. Ray florets of plants of the new Chrysanthemum were lighter in color than ray florets of plants of the cultivar Borello.